Happy Valeen!

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  I'm shocked to announce that Jason and I are semi-celebrating this year (we usually never do), so I will post later a bit about it.  For now, I want to talk about Valentine's Day as a kid.

Valentine's Day as a kid was awesome.  A few days before, my elementary classmates and I would fashion some sort of valentines' holder.  Ours were usually stapled construction paper pouches fastened to the bottom of the chalkboard.  Teachers would give everyone a list of the people in the class (so you could attempt to spell their name correctly, not just phonetically) to encourage students to give everyone a valentine, not just their friends.

I would go to the store and pick out the perfect theme for my valentines.  Maybe this year I'll do TMNT, no, Garfield... At home, I'd look through the whole box and pick out the very best ones for my closest friends, plus the most romantic one possible for my crush (not that elementary ones were terribly romantic... I remember one I got that had two people sharing a t-shirt and said "we're a great fit").

That afternoon, I'd get home and dump out my haul.

The best valentines?  The ones with candy (duh), followed shortly by ones featuring my favorite characters or fun puns.  Ok, there's the one from my best friend.  And that creepy kid nobody likes (eww).  Where's the one from my crush?

"Have a great day"?  Not even a mention of Valentine's Day?  No confession of his secret love for me?  Aww, man!  The heartache of a crushed 8-year-old.

Only now do I realize that the 8-year-old boy probably had nothing to do with the valentine selection or probably even writing the names on the valentines.  I'm pretty sure that was his mom's job.  Hmm, so maybe he DID secretly love me and just didn't tell his mom...


The other great thing about Valentine's Day as a kid was when my dad got home from work.  Every year, he'd come in the house, say "Happy Valeen" and give his four valentines boxes of Whitman's Samplers.

What an awesome gift.  First of all, it was chocolate.  Secondly, Daddy got us each one so we didn't have to share and no one noticed how much was gone from my box at any one time.  Thirdly, it came with a map telling you what each chocolate was.  I could go for my favorites and not be surprised by any gross ones.  As I put that first Jordan almond in my mouth, it finally felt like Valentine's Day.

What are your favorite Valentine's Day memories from your childhood?